Femtosecond laser fabrication of highly hydrophobic stainless steel surface with hierarchical structures fabricated by combining ordered microstructures and LIPSS

In this work we have developed hierarchical structures that consist of micro-patterned surfaces covered by nanostructures with a femtosecond laser. The first part of this work is a study to determine the microscale modifications produced on a stainless steel alloy (AISI304) surface at high pulse energy, different velocities, and number of overscans in order to obtain microstructures with a selected depth of around 10 μm and line widths of 20 μm. The second part of the work is focused on finding the optimal irradiation parameters to obtain the nanostructure pattern. Nanostructures have been defined by means of Laser Induced Periodical Surface Structures (LIPSS) around 250 nm high and a period of 580 nm, which constitute the nanostructure pattern. Finally, dual scale gratings of 50 mm2 were fabricated with different geometries and their effect on the measured contact angle. Combining the micro-pattern with the LIPSS nano-pattern, highly hydrophobic surfaces have been developed with measured static contact angles higher than 150° on a stainless steel alloy.